Marvel’s The Defenders

Marvel’s The Defenders

Blind ninja. Smart-ass detective. Bulletproof ex-con. Kung Fu billionaire. Marvel’s The Defenders centers on four outsider heroes that have to put aside their personal issues and come together when a villainous sect threatens to destroy New York City as we know it. The Netflix original series launches globally on August 18, 2017.

Watch the first full trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther

Watch the first full trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther

The first full trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther is here, and it gives us a better look at the world of Wakanda, where T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is the newly crowned king. In the trailer, we see Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), as he attempts to dethrone the Black Panther, plus lots of slow-motion, aerial views, and tight spandex. Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) reminds the Black Panther, “You get to decide what kind of king you are going to be.”

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Black Panther is a highly anticipated addition to Marvel’s cinematic slate, and it’s the first Marvel film to feature a predominately black cast.

Jigsaw Trailer Recaps The Saw Franchise

Jigsaw Trailer Recaps The Saw Franchise

A new trailer for Jigsaw gives fans and newcomers alike a refresher course on the series so far. The Saw franchise was a staple for horror fans every Halloween in the mid to late 2000s, until the series seemingly called it quits with The Final Chapter back in 2010. The Saw movies revolved around the exploits of John Kramer, a man diagnosed with a terminal illness who decides to use the time he has left to kidnap victims and test them to see how much they value their lives.

He would place inside vicious, themed traps, where they would usually have to shed some blood – or limbs – to survive; most of them didn’t. The series is one of the few horror franchises that paid close attention to continuity, with each sequel building on characters and plot revelations from the previous entry. By the time the series reached part seven, though, the story had gotten too convoluted for many, and it felt like Saw had run out of steam by the time The Final Chapter opened in theaters.

Jigsaw aims to revive the series once more, and a new trailer has appeared that quickly recaps the first seven Saw movies, and explains Kramer’s motivations and philosophy. The new sequel follows a fresh batch of victims being tested – and tormented – by the legendary Jigsaw… which should be impossible, since John Kramer died in Saw III.

It will be interesting to see if Jigsaw does well, since audiences seemed burnt out on the series back when The Final Chapter was released. The Saw franchise belongs to an era of horror commonly known as “torture porn”, which typically featured victims being graphically tortured and dismembered. Other movies from this subgenre including the Hostel films, The Collector and Wolf Creek; and while they proved profitable for a few years, their inherent nastiness soon turned most viewers off.

The original Saw was actually more of a taut thriller with little in the way of gore, and this new entry appears to be playing up the mystery of who exactly is behind the new tests. Jigsaw may have also lucked out in terms of timing since horror is experiencing a real boon right now. IT is now one of the highest grossing horror movies of all time, and Blumhouse is having a great year thanks to films like Happy Death Day, Split and Get Out.

With Pennywise emerging as a new horror icon, and the forthcoming Halloween reboot bringing Michael Myers back to life, maybe there’s room after all for Jigsaw in the modern horror scene.

Taking a break from trying to remember whether or not President Donald Trump ever admitted to committing sexual assault, the hosts of Fox & Friends turned their shrieking ire to a new target: children’s cartoon Thomas and Friends.

Specifically, it is Thomas and Friends’ addition of two female characters that have ruffled the F&F feathers. Host Pete Hegseth really kicked things off with this brilliant observation, sputtering as he tried to string together an argument.:

“Traditionally, boys have probably loved trains and girls probably do too. But there are more boy engines than girl engines. They’re balancing it out. They’re getting rid of two of the males and replacing them with female trains, one from Africa. And then the other changes — they are going to make Thomas more sustainable. He’s going to follow U.N. goals and stop polluting so much, and start being more environmentally friendly.”

This then launches into an argument about allowing “childhood to be childhood,” because, apparently, a show that includes female anthropomorphic train engines is too much for some children to deal with. Male anthropomorphic train engines that love polluting, however, are just fine.

Host David Webb continued to express his concern for our children, trying to clarify his anti-female train stance:

“I’m not against girl or boy trains or any trains. I would like to see a nice high-speed train represented, whatever the case may be. You know, Abby, I just don’t see the agenda being the driver.”

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Third host Abby Huntsman is the lone voice of reason in the discussion, arguing that gender equality in the cartoon train world is okay by her, all while her co-hosts attempt to interrupt her:

“Adding more women faces to trains, as a woman, I think that’s great. Also, clean energy, I’m all for clean energy in this country. I’m all for being more energy independent in this country. So, if this is something to be worried about, I just don’t know if that’s on the top of my list.”

“Does that kill childhood, though? Because I know I’m about to have a girl and to read her that book or show her that, I don’t think that ends her childhood.”

Adding women to popular entertainment has long ruffled the skirts of the far right; alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was booted off Twitter for (among other things) directing his fans to harass actor Leslie Jones, who was starring in the female reboot of Ghostbusters.

Keep in mind that this was a four minute segment on President Trump’s favorite morning news show, and it was discussing if the children of the United States are being indoctrinated because they added female trains to an animated children’s show. Watch the unbelievable exchange below, and especially note Abby Huntsman trying not to laugh in Pete Hegseth’s face as he introduces the segment: